Ecological Economics 34 (2000) 433 – 434
Book review
www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon
What Is Natural? Coral Reef Crisis. Jan Saap, Oxford University Press, New York, 275 pp., 1999, ISBN 0195123646
In exploring the broad issue of ‘what is natural’ in ecological systems, science historian Jan Saap has focused on the crown-of-thorns starfish phe-nomenon and coral reefs. ‘‘The crown-of-thorns controversy is … one that belongs properly to the history of coral-reef science, to ecology and envi-ronmental science more generally’’ (p. 209). A central focus for much of ecology is learning to understand changes in natural systems. Such anal-ysis is of more than academic interest in coral reefs — one of the great scenic ecosystems of the world whose physical appearance is the basis of much wealth generation through tourism — ac-tual, potential, or foregone. Coral reefs also pro-tect shorelines from erosion, and they are the foundation of important fisheries for local popu-lations and distant markets. Things that kill what tourists like, what coasts and fishes need — things like outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish and hot water leading to coral bleaching, are a ‘coral reef crisis’ for humans who have come to depend on coral reefs. But are they natural?
Drawing broadly from the scientific literature, government reports, press and interviews with key players, Saap, in a highly entertaining read, ex-plains how crown-of-thorns starfish are classic villains for coral reefs. Not only do their massed populations dismay us by killing the corals across the entire reefscape that you may see on a single dive. They are also ugly brutes – spiky, toxic 12-armed sea stars that grow to the size of a truck’s
hubcap and feed by everting their repulsive stom-achs over the statuesque corals. When the hoard moves on to adjacent feeding grounds, it leaves behind a reefscape that is, to use the vernacular … ‘devastated’. How could such barbarity be natural? Easily — you know — Nature red in tooth and claw and all that. The beast is, after all, well adapted in its mode of feeding, growth and reproduction, and its main coral prey seems to be adapted to recover from this type of impact.
Or has the hidden hand of Homo sapiens set loose a monster formerly kept in check by a plethora of ecosystem checks and balances we have unwittingly removed and upset in going about our lives on land and sea? Interesting ques-tions, but it depends who is asking. For the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for example, the answer has profound implications; if natural, do not interfere, if not, initiate controls. For the tourism industry, protection of high value tourist sites is paramount — whether outbreaks are nat-ural or unnatnat-ural. Equally damaging for the in-dustry as the state of the corals can be perceptions among potential tourists-generated by press re-ports that the situation is as bad as, much worse than, or geographically more widespread than it is. For science, much of the question ‘is it natural’ reduces to issues of the controls of abundance and survival rates in all the stages — from free float-ing larvae, to miniature bite-sized juvenile starfish, to formidable spiny adults. Saap describes the beliefs, evidence and mechanisms that science has advanced and disputed over 40 years. Sedimentol-gical evidence of past outbreaks; runoff of nutri-ents from agricultural fields enhances larval
Book re6iew 434
survivorship; overfishing of key predators on juve-nile and adult stages that causes population ex-plosion; computer models that purport to show what might be, and what might have been, and what could not possibly be.
If you are looking for a simple answer to ‘what is natural’ — this is not the book to give it to you, nor was that Saap’s intention. Nor is there a simple answer — and that finding may be the book’s enduring message. When dealing with ecosystems, seek elegance and simplicity, but avoid simplistic answers. The book does not dig deeply into the technical issues, but is superb in presenting them in their historical and social con-texts. I recommend it to all those who have ever wondered ‘what is natural’?
Biography
Dr Terry Done lives in Townsville, Australia, and leads the ‘Sustaining Living Marine Re-sources’ Project at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the ‘Information Systems and Synthesis’ Program at the Cooperative Research Centre for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
22 May 2000 T. Done
Australian Institute of Marine Science,
Towns6ille, QLD 4811,
Australia
